Citigroup: Copper Prices to Find Support at $13,000/mt, Caution Urged Amid U.S.-Iran Tensions

On the inventory side of SMM copper wire and cable enterprises this week, companies restocked raw materials on dips, primarily by first locking in prices and then picking up goods as needed, without large-scale stockpiling, sending raw material inventories up 2.71% WoW. When copper prices initially fell, downstream customers concentrated on cargo pick-up, driving destocking of finished product inventories. The market then held a wait-and-see stance, and finished product inventories fell 1.86% WoW.

The SMM operating rate of copper wire and cable enterprises recorded 70.38% this week, up 1.11 percentage points WoW and up 0.2 percentage points YoY. The decline in copper prices during the week slightly stimulated new orders, but end-users generally waited for lower purchase prices, with strong wait-and-see sentiment, limiting the boost from price declines on orders.